Iran's rial continued to weaken sharply on Saturday, even after the central bank said state-owned banks would inject up to $2 billion in foreign exchange into the market. According to Sina Finance, free-market data showed the dollar rose to about 2.688 million to 2.695 million rials, from 2.632 million the previous day, while the rial has lost more than half its value against the dollar over the past year.

Iranian state television said state-owned banks had begun selling up to $2 billion in foreign exchange to increase dollar supply and support the local currency. Mehdi Darabi, an official in charge of foreign exchange affairs at Iran's central bank, said some of the pressure came from market expectations and that remarks by U.S. officials about a possible collapse of Iran's economy were affecting sentiment.